VARIETIES OF THE CANE. 



The Creole Cane. This term occurs frequently in the literature 

 and its history is apparently as follows. The Crusaders brought to Southern 

 Europe a cane from the Orient ; this cane was cultivated in Sicily, Southern 

 Spain, the Canaries, Madeira and eventually reached the New World ahout 

 1500; later when the South Pacific types were introduced, it was necessary 

 to name this cane, when by reason of its already long association with the 

 colonies it was called ' Creole.' 1 It is a small yellow cane probably of Indian 

 origin, and may perhaps be included amongst the Indian canes described in a 

 separate section. 



Red Canes. Wray 6 describes a certain cane under the name of Red 

 Cane of Assam, and states that the native name is Tiboo Meerah. Kriiger 7 

 mentions two canes to which this term is applied ; Tiboo Meerah, and Tibboo 

 Meerah Borneo. The Tibboo Meerah figured by Soltwedel 4 is a dirty claret- 

 coloured cane, merging into purple on the older internodes, and this is, the 

 writer understands, the cane referred to under that name in the literature of 

 the sugar cane as it refers to Australia. Harrison and Jenman 3 give Meerah 

 as a synonym of the Purple Transparent, but the Tibboo Meerah of Soltwedel 

 is quite distinct from the Purple Transparent or Black Cheribon. 



Home. This cane is of great interest, as it is one of the earliest, if 

 not the earliest, recorded instances of a striped cane originating from self- 

 coloured cane. This observation is due to Mr. John Home, at one time 

 Director of Forests and Gardens in Mauritius ; the cane from which it origi- 

 nated was a Louzier cane, and in Mauritius, where it is cultivated on the 

 estate scale, it is indifferently known as Louzier rayee ; the writer has also 

 observed occasionally a cane exactly similar to the Home appearing in 

 Bourbon fields in Demerara. The cane is very irregularly striped in red, 

 green, and yellow colours. 



The Green Rose Ribbon. This cane, which has been cultivated 

 with success in Australia, is a sport from the Otaheite, which it resembles in 

 habit ; it is striped green and a yellowish pink colour. It is also known as 

 Green Ribbon, Brisbane, Malay, White Striped Bourbon, and in Mauritius 

 as Louzier rayee. 



The Iscambine Canes. Among canes introduced into Mauritius 

 from New Caledonia was a striped cane originally known as Tsimbec ; this 

 ane is striped yellow and red, and from it has sported a cane known as 

 Iscambine rouge, represented in Fig. 18.* Both these canes are found on the 

 estate scale in Mauritius ; they are soft canes with a brownish-yellow ground 

 tissue ; they are subject to variation and a number of Iscambines are 

 known. 



Indian Canes. S. M. Hadi 17 divides the canes of the United 

 Provinces into Ukh, Ganna, and Paunda canes. The Ukh canes are small 



* See Coloured Plates. 

 33 



